LEDs triple lighting levels in industrial repair shop

The 75 machinists at Atlas Machine & Supply in Louisville, Ky., found that the facility’s fluorescent lighting could not supply their industrial repair shop with bright, direct light. After installing high bay LED lights, the company improved lighting conditions while substantially reducing maintenance costs.

Workers in the shop need to compare minute details on technical drawings and prints. The facility’s existing fixtures lit the ceiling and the tops of equipment, but very little usable light made it down to floor level. Employees often held flashlights in their mouths to illuminate work documents. Additionally, the fluorescent lighting required regular replacement of bulbs and ballasts.

“One of the main killers on the fluorescents was the reflectors and the bulbs just getting dirty,” Lawson says. “We’d re-lamp a section, and within six months, the foot-candles would diminish by at least 50% due to dirt and dust.”

The company installed 96 high bay LED fixtures (Big Ass Light) in the 86,000-square-foot facility, fine-tuning the lighting design to illuminate every square inch of the space.

Lawson estimates that the amount of usable light doubled or tripled, from an estimated 6 foot-candles to 12 foot-candles with their old fixtures to 28 foot-candles to 30 foot-candles with the new LEDs. Lawson also looks forward to the long-term benefits of the new fixtures, including the maintenance trays that allow for quick cleaning to maintain brightness and an estimated life of 150,000 hours.

Lawson says the benefits were immediate. “From day one, the lights have definitely improved employees’ ability to read, understand and get better and more precise measurements,” he says.